Report: Ford Will Introduce Prius-Fighter by 2018

How Ford will expand its hybrid lineup in the coming years.

Although automakers have introduced a wide variety of hybrids, none has achieved the same success as the Toyota Prius. But Ford may challenge Toyota's dominance by bringing out an all-new dedicated hybrid model in the coming years.

Ford's new compact car will be available exclusively with a hybrid powertrain, and will reportedly arrive in late 2018 as a 2019 model year vehicle. The automaker will build a whopping 120,000 copies of the new vehicle at its Wayne assembly plant in Michigan each year, according to a report from Reuters. Ford may also expand its new offering to an entire line of hybrids, including a plug-in model.

The new hybrid will borrow some of the same hybrid technology from current Ford hybrid cars. However, it will be built on Ford's new C2 global compact architecture, expected to also underpin the new Focus and Escape.

Ford faces a few challenges in debuting this new model, considering sales of many hybrid models are down this year. Ford's hybrids have seen mixed results; sales of the C-Max have dropped 29 percent during the first seven months of the year although the Fusion Hybrid is up 24 percent. But by the time Ford's new hybrid model comes out, Toyota will have introduced an updated Prius, which promises 10 percent better fuel economy than the current model. Meanwhile, Chevrolet will have introduced a redesigned Volt plug-in that Chevrolet Volt in the Works" target="_blank">will be more affordable than the current version.